Charles Lai received his B.Sc (2003) and Ph.D. (2010) from the University of British Columbia, Canada, where he studied the role of gap junctions and its analogues pannexins in glioma, under the guidance of Prof. Christian Naus. In 2010, he joined Profs. Xandra Breakefield and Bakhos Tannous' laboratories in Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School as a Postdoctoral Fellow, and later in 2014 as an Instructor, to expand his research horizon in cell-to-cell communication, centering on extracellular vesicle (EV)-mediated communication between glioma and glioma-stromal cells. He developed one of the first noninvasive methods to monitor EVs and cargo in vitro and in vivo. He is a recipient of the Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). In 2015, Dr. Lai joined National Tsing Hua University (Hsinchu, Taiwan) as an Assistant Professor of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Lai's research focuses on tumor EV processes, imaging and therapeutic development.

Abstract:

The webinar will start at 4am Pacific Time, 7am Eastern Time, 1pm Central European Summer Time, 7pm China Standard Time

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) including exosome and microvesicles are nanometer sized vesicles released by cells as a novel form of intercellular communication without direct cell-to-cell contacts, delivering lipids, cellular proteins, mRNAs and non-coding RNAs. Recent studies have shown that EV plays an important role in diseases, as well as been employed as a vehicle for targeted delivery of therapeutic genes/drugs. Accurate spatiotemporal assessment of nanosized EV delivery and cargo RNA translation, however, requires specific and robust imaging technologies. For fluorescent reporters conjugated to proteins enriched in EVs, labeling may be restricted to subpopulations of EVs, limiting their wider use to observe multiple EV types. Meanwhile, fluorescent dyes for EV lipid-labeling including PKH may not reflect true half-life of EVs and can be retained in association with other lipid entities for long periods, thus misguiding spatiotemporal assessment of EV dynamics, especially over extended periods. This webinar will discuss emerging methods developed for EV visualization, as well as findings made from employing these new technologies.

Learning Objectives:

Discuss emerging methods developed for EV visualization

Understand findings made from employing new technologies developed for extracellular vesicle (EV) visualization